Map of Fast Food Distribution (USA)

The map above is a visual representation of the fast food chain distribution across the country. If you click on specific areas (blue dots), you recieve information on the name, location, and type (category) of each restaurant. As displayed by the data, fast food resturants are more centralized on the East Coast. However, on the West Coast, they are much more wide spread.

Information on Fast Food Chains (Summary)

Here, in the United States, there is an abundance of fast food chains. Looking at a sample from the top 10000 eateries across the country, we get an understanding of how wide spread they are, how popular they are (measured on the basis of the total number of restaurants), and where the highest number of them may be concentrated.

If we take a look at the data, holistically, the average number of restaurants per state is 212.7659574. However, certain states dominant more than others. The states that are most popular for fast food establishments have been CA, FL, OH (as abbreviated). If you were to look more specifically into the U.S., on a city level, the top places for fast food are Birmingham, Columbus, Indianapolis. This gives us a geographic understanding of how the fast food resturants are spread. But what are the names of the actual resturants that have the most influence in country? The data suggests that mcdonald’s, subway, taco bell (in no particular order) are the most popular. The top restaurant: subway, having a grand total of 1210 locations.

Total Number of Fast Food Restaurants per State

The bar chart above helps us understand (at an individual level) the distribution of fast food places across the U.S.. It displays the total number of restaurants according to the state. As shown by the data, Ohio is the state with the most concentrated number of fast food chains. On the contrary, Connecticut and New Jersey look to have the least amount of them.

Mcdonald’s Summary Table (per State)

State Total Fast Food Restaurants Total Number of Mcdonald’s Mcdonald’s/Total Fast Food Restaurants
AK 64 4 6%
AL 635 35 6%
AR 124 11 9%
AZ 186 32 17%
CA 727 72 10%
CO 154 13 8%
CT 1 0 0%
DC 18 3 17%
DE 25 2 8%
FL 739 64 9%
GA 238 40 17%
HI 91 12 13%
IA 107 15 14%
ID 65 2 3%
IL 305 42 14%
IN 519 29 6%
KS 92 14 15%
KY 142 25 18%
LA 161 22 14%
MA 2 0 0%
MD 114 18 16%
MI 210 42 20%
MN 83 9 11%
MO 244 25 10%
MS 99 12 12%
MT 33 4 12%
NC 663 34 5%
ND 18 1 6%
NE 74 5 7%
NJ 2 0 0%
NM 69 6 9%
NV 96 11 11%
NY 173 33 19%
OH 922 50 5%
OK 147 13 9%
OR 334 21 6%
PA 194 28 14%
SC 322 16 5%
SD 27 0 0%
TN 243 18 7%
TX 426 53 12%
UT 74 7 9%
VA 348 30 9%
WA 404 17 4%
WI 112 17 15%
WV 154 8 5%
WY 20 1 5%

Above shows summarised information regarding a fan favourite across the United States, McDonald’s. Being a well-known, household name, we wanted to understand how McDonald’s compared (in terms of total locations) to their other competitors of each state.The table displays all states, their fast food chain total, total number of Mcdonalds’, and the ratio of Mcdonald’s to the total fast food chains. As shown by the data, Mississippi has the highest ratio of Mcdonalds’ to their leading competitors in the whole country at 20% of their fast food chains being MCD. Comparatively, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are tied for not having any Mcdonald’s in their state(as given within the sample).

Top Ten Fast Food Chains of America

The pie chart above shows the top 10 fast food chain restaurants (by name). It’s colourful appearance allows us to differentiate the difference (in percentage) between these most wide spread eateries. As mentioned in the summary, Subway is the most popular fast food restaurant. As seen here, it is 9.1% more wide spread than Mcdonald’s and 14% more wide spread than Taco Bell, its closest competitors.